Introducing Xbox Game Pass: Unlimited Access To More Than 100 Games

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Found 28th FebFound 28th Feb

At Xbox, we put gamers at the center of everything we do and remain committed to giving you the freedom to play the games you want, with the friends you want, on the devices you want. This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for gamers. As we prepare to launch Project Scorpio this holiday, bringing the most powerful console ever made to the Xbox One family of devices, we continue to make platform improvements to connect the growing community of players on Xbox Live and add to a robust and diverse portfolio of games across Xbox One and Windows 10.

Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give you more options to diversify and expand your library of games with Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription service coming later this spring. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games – all for $9.99 per month.

With great games from top industry publishers such as 2K, 505 Games, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, SEGA, SNK CORPORATION, THQ Nordic GmbH, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft Studios, there’s something for everyone to enjoy and you will always find something exciting to play across a variety of genres. Some of the fan favorite titles coming to Xbox Game Pass when it launches to the broader Xbox community in late spring include, Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, NBA 2K16 and SoulCalibur II.

One of the best things about Xbox Game Pass is that you can discover and download the full titles directly on your Xbox One. That means continuous, full-fidelity gameplay without having to worry about streaming, bandwidth or connectivity issues. In addition, all Xbox One games in the catalog – and related add-ons – will be available to purchase at an exclusive discount for Xbox Game Pass members, so you can make the games you love part of your permanent library to play whenever you want. Every month new games will cycle into the subscription with some cycling out, giving you a constantly updating library of games. Xbox Game Pass is your ticket to endless play.

It’s important to us that Xbox Game Pass provides an enjoyable and seamless experience. Before the program rolls out to the broader community later this spring, we’ll be testing Xbox Game Pass with select members of the Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Preview ring, starting today with a very limited number of titles. The titles that are available in Preview are just a small glimpse at the expansive catalog of games that will be available when Xbox Game Pass launches late spring. Xbox Live Gold members will also be receiving exclusive access to Xbox Game Pass prior to the program launching to the broader community. We’ll have more details on timing closer to launch.

We hope you enjoy Xbox Game Pass and all that it has to offer. We’re looking forward to hearing the feedback from the gamers in the Xbox Insider Program and then from the rest of the Xbox community when it’s broadly available later this spring. Your feedback will make this program better for all gamers.

Just to point out from that info. It's available from today to select Xbox Insider Program members and becomes available to all in the Spring for just $(£)9.99 a month.

At the risk of tilting either way, it seems like yet another great addition from Microsoft for the Xbox Platform.

28th Feb

Is it £9.99 a month or $9.99 and bit less in £?

28th Feb

This sounds awesome and sounds a bit more affordable compared to ps now. Good job xbox.

Original Poster
Editor
28th Feb

Wilsh88

Is it £9.99 a month or $9.99 and bit less in £?

It would convert to roughly £7.99, but I'd expect £9.99 to be honest.

28th Feb

BuzzDuraband

Just to point out from that info. It's available from today to select … Just to point out from that info. It's available from today to select Xbox Insider Program members and becomes available to all in the Spring for just $(£)9.99 a month.At the risk of tilting either way, it seems like yet another great addition from Microsoft for the Xbox Platform.

​glad i can have it now

28th Feb

While I like it and think it's a great idea i hope the price structure of £9.99 a month doesn't make EA rethink the pricing of Access.

At £100-£120 a year i don't think i'll get the value out of it when i look at my backlog pile whereas £20 a year for Access is worth it for dipping into the odd Madden game etc.

Edited by: "Syzable" 28th Feb

28th Feb

Syzable

While I like it and think it's a great idea i hope the price structure of … While I like it and think it's a great idea i hope the price structure of £9.99 a month doesn't make EA rethink the pricing of Access.At £100-£120 a year i don't think i'll get the value out of it when i look at my backlog pile whereas £20 a year for Access is worth it for dipping into the odd Madden game etc.

This is exactly my thinking.

Original Poster
Editor
28th Feb

Syzable

While I like it and think it's a great idea i hope the price structure of … While I like it and think it's a great idea i hope the price structure of £9.99 a month doesn't make EA rethink the pricing of Access.At £100-£120 a year i don't think i'll get the value out of it when i look at my backlog pile whereas £20 a year for Access is worth it for dipping into the odd Madden game etc.

Yeah, I don't think the value can even be weighed up until we know exactly what games are included. Looking at the image above, the stand out games for myself would be....well, Mad Max

I don't really have any interest in the others or own them. They've obviously been highlighted as the key titles for the service, but hopefully that will change as we draw closer to the actual release of Xbox Game Pass. Obviously the timing of new titles added in the same way that EA add them to the vault would also be another factor. EA don't seem to drop them into the vault as often as we would like, but when they do, they're titles that matter.

Edited by: "BuzzDuraband" 28th Feb

28th Feb

Surely this will impact Games with Gold?

28th Feb

Looking forward to this

28th Feb

I have bought way too many games since I bought the xbox and with GWG and EA vault I cant see me wanting this at all...

£9.99 a month is too steep for me too. I spend way more on that on games I know but even so...

I have bought way too many games since I bought the xbox and with GWG and … I have bought way too many games since I bought the xbox and with GWG and EA vault I cant see me wanting this at all... £9.99 a month is too steep for me too. I spend way more on that on games I know but even so... hopefully this doesn't impact the quality of GWG.either way I can see this would appeal to some.

The more I think about it, the more I'm becoming against the idea.

ScarboroughKID

Eurogamer reporting a UK price of £7.99

Ah, that's a little better than expected. Cheers

28th Feb

Not for me ta. EA access, GWG and buying only a couple of brand new games means I won't get value from it. Anything that's not a day one purchase gets picked up between £10-20 second hand.

Not for me ta. EA access, GWG and buying only a couple of brand new games … Not for me ta. EA access, GWG and buying only a couple of brand new games means I won't get value from it. Anything that's not a day one purchase gets picked up between £10-20 second hand. PS Now failed, I expect this to fail

PS Now was a streaming service, this isn't. I can see it working well tbh

28th Feb

joanddan7

I have bought way too many games since I bought the xbox and with GWG … I have bought way too many games since I bought the xbox and with GWG and EA vault I cant see me wanting this at all... £9.99 a month is too steep for me too. I spend way more on that on games I know but even so... hopefully this doesn't impact the quality of GWG.either way I can see this would appeal to some.

ScarboroughKID

Eurogamer reporting a UK price of £7.99

I think probably if I had just bought the console id take a look for a few months, (I know November isn't long but due to this place I already have 160+ installed on the 5tb HHD I bought! haha damn you HUKD) I cant see this being any good for me... I think the £20 a year for EA seemed a very decent deal as does 4 games a month at £40(or less depending on how you upgrade) a year for gold.

With Sky TV, Netflix, Amazon prime. only so many sub type things I wanna be locked in to now really.

28th Feb

Mikey_b

Not for me ta. EA access, GWG and buying only a couple of brand new games … Not for me ta. EA access, GWG and buying only a couple of brand new games means I won't get value from it. Anything that's not a day one purchase gets picked up between £10-20 second hand. PS Now failed, I expect this to fail

PS Now failed because they were charging a lot for streaming old 'PS3' titles whilst MS has backward compatibility with the Xbox 360, plus these games are mainly Xbox One titles that are downloaded and not streamed so no lag etc

28th Feb

This will mainly include games which you can buy for a tenner and resell, so prob wont be worth it for me. May see if I can stack up some EA Access if thats possible.

Cannot make out rest as I need a higher res picture to make out but most listed above have been available cheap in a sale, but lets see the full list once available

Edited by: "johnwillowlfc" 28th Feb

28th Feb

I'd throw a tenner down when there's a few titles I'd like to play, I wouldn't be subscribing monthly though. If you see it as a rental service as and when required then it's not too bad at all. Even better if it is £8 for a month.

28th Feb

Include Xbox Live then it's a deal but looking at it, Gears is the only title that appeals to me.

Highlights of the FAQ sec.You don't need Gold. (expect for multiplayer). Gold members get access to new games first.More games will be added and some may be removed.Games are downloaded not streamed. Can be played offline for up to 30 days.Game pass games can be bought for 20% off for members Add-ons will be 10% off5.For Xbox and Windows 10 devices not 360Launching in 27 markets

Edited by: "boabbyrab" 28th Feb

28th Feb

TO me that £7.99 can be used to buy a game that you overlooked a couple of years back, for instance, Fallout 4 this month, you then own that game forever and you can do this each month, unless this is gogin to be throwing AAA new releases at us, I do not see the value in it.

EA Access sounded a terrible idea, then it was great, then it was a another sub going unused.

Will have to see what games are included but I feel the money could be spent better.

28th Feb

£10/M is a better price over psNow. But I'd rather it be a tad cheaper.

I've seen a list of 23 titles and most are BC titles. Not a service I'd pay for if it's going to be more BC titles.

28th Feb

my shiny £10 will be staying in my pocket

28th Feb

kos1c

£10/M is a better price over psNow. But I'd rather it be a tad cheaper. … £10/M is a better price over psNow. But I'd rather it be a tad cheaper. I've seen a list of 23 titles and most are BC titles. Not a service I'd pay for if it's going to be more BC titles.

its £7.99 pm and its another great service from MS.

28th Feb

Snakeyes646

its £7.99 pm and its another great service from MS.

​Ah at £8 it's a nice budget service. Everywhere was saying it was £10/M.

I'll wait till the full list is out, or when they upgrade the system with more xbox one games.

28th Feb

£8 per month for 6 months of access to loads of games or 1 game at £49.99* that might last you the weekend? I think it looks good value.

*I know games can be traded in though.

28th Feb

Really hope there is a month-by-month option, would be great to be able to subscribe for a month and effectively "rent" a few games, then cancel.

This is interesting. Downloading the games is certainly a big plus. According to the FAQ on Xbox.com games can be played offline for up to 30 days which is also nice.

The games are going to need to be a lot better than those on the images for me to pay £8 per month compared to EA Access's £20 a year.﻿

stuarthanley

£8 per month for 6 months of access to loads of games or 1 game at … £8 per month for 6 months of access to loads of games or 1 game at £49.99* that might last you the weekend? I think it looks good value. *I know games can be traded in though.

They can be traded and if you pay £50 for your games you need to shop around more. Also comparing 6 months of really old games you can buy for significantly less than £50 to a brand new launch day title bought from Game isn't quite like for like.

1st Mar

Look on CEX website, list 360 games by price. Loads of great games under £2 which you can then sell on afterwards (Often for more money if you are smart).I have been stocking up on older games around 50-75p.

This would need to have some pretty decent games included to make it worthwhile.

1st Mar

Snakeyes646

its £7.99 pm and its another great service from MS.

I think its a good service for people that play games to completion and do it binge style.

That way you can take this up and binge for a couple of months a tick a load of games off the completed list and then cancel and a year later take it up and repeat when new games are added.

But I start a lot of games, take a big break and don't go back for ages.

EA vault wins for me because every year I end up buying the American sport games, UFC, FIFA... and the few other EA sports games when they are out.. EA have saved me doing this, - I still will buy the odd game FIFA, Madden if it gets major updates and also £20 for a year and £24 for three months is quite the same to me...

Also I dip in and out of sports games all the time. When I got my xbox I would have picked up UFC 2 (was still waiting on ps4 for it to drop) a NBA game, NHL game, I still wanted a go on the golf... picking up those four would have been at least the first 2 years fee if not more and I got so so much more extra...

With this over the year I can see on HUKD you being able to pick up physical copies for a similar amount and having 20+ games to keep forever.

Like someone else said, unless the list is huge and relatively rare high value games/new games are added (lets face it they wont) I don't see much value at all.

Its better than PS Now... but for those of us with a pile of shame and those that use HUKD - there is probably better value elsewhere...

1st Mar

SVRich

The games are going to need to be a lot better than those on the images … The games are going to need to be a lot better than those on the images for me to pay £8 per month compared to EA Access's £20 a year.﻿They can be traded and if you pay £50 for your games you need to shop around more. Also comparing 6 months of really old games you can buy for significantly less than £50 to a brand new launch day title bought from Game isn't quite like for like.

​Netflix has gotten better over the years and I presume this service will be the same, games age just like movies and TV programmes and so lose value.

I can see it becoming a great service and hopefully a must have service.

1st Mar

Snakeyes646

​Netflix has gotten better over the years and I presume this service will … ​Netflix has gotten better over the years and I presume this service will be the same, games age just like movies and TV programmes and so lose value.I can see it becoming a great service and hopefully a must have service.

Like I say it's all about the games and how old they are. Netflix also has unique and new content I can't get from CEX for £2.

1st Mar

SVRich

Like I say it's all about the games and how old they are. Netflix also … Like I say it's all about the games and how old they are. Netflix also has unique and new content I can't get from CEX for £2.

I would equate Netflix's new content to Season Pass discounts - not just the one's mentioned, but I would bet we'll see Game Pass exclusive DLC sales in the future. It's rare to see an unbundled Xbox One DLC sale nowadays, and that will be my main selling point... in about 2 years time when I decide to subscribe (backlog quite big enough as it is thank you!).

1st Mar

eayragt

(backlog quite big enough as it is thank you!).

I sympathise with that, it is definitely interesting but I will wait and see.

1st Mar

I completely agree with other posters in that I hope this doesn't make EA change the price of Access. I no longer buy the NHL or Madden games anymore because of that service, and there are a few other games that I would miss if I stopped subscribing due to a price increase.

A great service for newer gamers who could catch up on the excellent back catalogue. For those of us who have played Xbox titles for years, the jury is out until we see what games are included. £7.99 would be great. Why isn't PS Now about that price already?!